DIY cardboard rifle can fire paper pellets up to 25 yards

When spitwads just won't get the job done.

Paper pellets make great projectiles, just ask any schoolkid. Paper Shooters, rifles made primarily out of cardboard, can fire those paper pellets up to a distance of 25 yards, lending a degree of professionalism to a pursuit that is usually more of a hobby.

Developed by a team of designers that includes former Nerf engineers, in collaboration with Bang Creations, the Paper Shooters kit comes with all the tools needed to build the working gun. Apart from the plastic firing mechanism the gun is pretty much all cardboard, and the three varieties—Digital Ops, Golden Touch and Zombie Slayer—look surprisingly realistic (although perhaps only if you're James Bond in the case of Golden Touch).

The creators have just launched an Indiegogo campaign for £42,000 ($64,439), to satisfy the minimum order number required to begin manufacturing kits in China, and to raise additional funds for further die-cutting tools and molds.

Wired.co.uk spoke to Mike Howarth of Team Paper Shooters by e-mail about the gun. He said: "I'm an entrepreneurial 29-year-old from Manchester who loves designing new products. This is my first product—designed initially in my apartment—and has just blossomed from there into a really great piece of kit. This is my first product, although there are lots more to come!"

Each kit contains a plastic firing mechanism and skeleton, layers of cardboard "skin" for the gun that are either glued or clipped on, eight gold shells, 50 pieces of premade ammunition, a mold for making new ammunition out of paper (any soft paper will do) and a target in the shape of a zombie's head.

Howarth said: "The plastic is merely a 'skeleton' (minimum amount) as it shoots wet paper ammo that the user makes themselves." The soft paper pellet ammunition fits into cartridges the shape of real bullets, and creating a cardboard gun that could handle moisture was a particular challenge.

The cartridge casings eject out of the side every time the user reloads, just like a real semiautomatic rifle. Apparently, the pellets have aerodynamic qualities similar to Airsoft rounds ("the accuracy is very good up to 65 feet [20m], then probably drops slightly after that," says Howarth), so they are actually quite dangerous if not treated with respect. It's very much for teenagers, not children, with an age guidance of 14-years-old and up. According to Howarth, "the 'gunsmith experience' is definitely the main selling point."

Also, while the kits come predesigned, "users can absolutely print their own card frame as we supply the card template blueprints via email with every kit," Howarth said. It's not quite 3D-printing an actual gun, but it's a lot safer and a lot more legal.

maybe because its bigger and more easy for structural design in terms of overall structural strength due to the material and the longer barrel gives a more "satisfying" experience for perceived accuracy.

Each kit contains a plastic firing mechanism and skeleton, layers of cardboard "skin" for the gun that are either glued or clipped on, eight gold shells, 50 pieces of premade ammunition, a mold for making new ammunition out of paper (any soft paper will do) and a target in the shape of a zombie's head.

Each kit contains a plastic firing mechanism and skeleton, layers of cardboard "skin" for the gun that are either glued or clipped on, eight gold shells, 50 pieces of premade ammunition, a mold for making new ammunition out of paper (any soft paper will do) and a target in the shape of a zombie's head.

So it's not a "cardboard rifle" then?

No, not completely, just the skin.

Paper deer and zombies everywhere are in fear and their rotting carcases will be littering the landscape from shore to shore, people will go on a spree targeting spit wad users everywhere with vastly superior firepower using advanced paper technology.

Each kit contains a plastic firing mechanism and skeleton, layers of cardboard "skin" for the gun that are either glued or clipped on, eight gold shells, 50 pieces of premade ammunition, a mold for making new ammunition out of paper (any soft paper will do) and a target in the shape of a zombie's head.

Each kit contains a plastic firing mechanism and skeleton, layers of cardboard "skin" for the gun that are either glued or clipped on, eight gold shells, 50 pieces of premade ammunition, a mold for making new ammunition out of paper (any soft paper will do) and a target in the shape of a zombie's head.

It's not quite 3D-printing an actual gun, but it's a lot safer and a lot more legal.

Except both are totally legal (in the USA).

How can something be 'more' legal? It's either legal or not, no? And what exactly are you refering to as illegal, 3D printers? I've not looked into that...interesting if they are (interesting might not be the best word...I'm struggling here...)

Haha. That's funny. The actual part that makes it a gun is not even cardboard. Why don't they just use steel and make the bullets out of a more lethal material? Or, maybe they want to profit off the "kid" factor knowing that users will no doubt make mods to "improve" it.

Sooo, suppose the weapon is plasticky and/or cardboardy enough to pass through what we are obliged to refer to as airport security. What else can it fire besides paper pellets? And, what's the reaction from the crew of the plane?

So, a kid takes this to school and ends up doing ten to twenty in Leavenworth.

I guess this means that when cardboard rifles are banned that only cardboard box makers will have cardboard.

Why would 3d printing it be illegal? Or, is this a comment from someone that thinks all guns should be illegal?

Its not illegal to 3D print this "cardboard" gun, its illegal to 3D print (as in producing a physical item one can hold and use as a firearm) an actual firearm unless a licensed manufacturer or you register the firearm and are legally capable of having a firearm. This cardboard gun does not qualify as a firearm, its basically a fancy straw and spitwad type of thing - a kids toy.

My comment in that ("I guess this means that when cardboard rifles are banned that only cardboard box makers will have cardboard") was a joke due to the original posters comment over such imagined scenarios that people want to always come up with anytime the word 'gun' or firearm' is involved.

Haha. That's funny. The actual part that makes it a gun is not even cardboard. Why don't they just use steel and make the bullets out of a more lethal material? Or, maybe they want to profit off the "kid" factor knowing that users will no doubt make mods to "improve" it.

Just what is it with you Usasians and your gun fetish? From most anywhere else in the world, it's really weird y'know.

You know you are addressing Americans but your hateful anti-Americanism is so deep and dysfunctional it prevents you from even acknowledging their nationality. I feel sorry for people like you.

As for the gun comment, on the flip side one could ask why someone would be so against something that individually can protect you and your family and as a population could prevent future Warsaw ghettos, genocide and tyranny?

I'm guessing you are from somewhere in Europe as the only people I have run into calling Americans the idiotic name of "Usasians" and grouping "the world," against America, as if "the world" somehow acts, thinks and lives the same, were all America hating Europeans. If you are, which you will probably deny anyway, I would suggest you learn, or relearn, your continent's history about trusting the use of firearms only in the hands of the government.

One last thing. This is an American site, which I'm sure you know, so if you are coming here to insult Americans you are not going to last very long. Lose the hate and learn some respect for other cultures.